Associate Professor SK Ong

Department of Mechanical Engineering （中文版）

Patricia Soh-Khim ONG 王素琴副教授
BEng NUS, PhD NUS (Thesis advisor: Prof Andrew YC Nee)
Associate Professor

Associate Member CIRP

2004 M Eugene Merchant Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award

2004国际杰出青年制造工程师奖

2004 Singapore Youth Award, Science & Technology Category

2004新加坡杰出青年奖(科技组）

2006 The Outstanding Young Person of Singapore Award, Science & Technology Category

2006新加坡十大杰出青年奖(科技组）

S.K. Ong received her B.Eng. (Honours in Mechanical Engineering) and her Ph.D. from the National University of Singapore. She is currently lecturing in the Manufacturing Division in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. In November 2003, she was selected to receive the 2004 M. Eugene Merchant Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, where she is the 1st ASEAN female to have received this award since the award was 1st established. She is also a recipient of the 2004 Singapore Youth Award for the Science & Technology Category. In 2005, she was elected an Associate Member of CIRP, The International Academy for Production Engineering, one of the most exclusive associations for manufacturing researchers in the world, she is the first female person in the Asia Pacific region to be elected. In March 2006, she was awarded The Outstanding Young Person of Singapore Award for the Science & Technology Category. She is currently a Junior Faculty Member of the NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering.

She served as the staff advisor to the Faculty's Students Engineering Club, as well as chairperson of the Student Self-Development Advisory Committee for more than 10 years until 2006. She served as a member of the NUS University Senate Delegacy from April 2005 to June 2006.

She was appointed by Singapore President SR Nathan to serve as a Nominated Member of the Singapore Parliament for a term of 2 ½ years from 2nd January 2005. She served as NMP from 2nd January 2005 to 19th April 2006. She was the only NMP in the last batch of 9 NMPs to have raised an adjournment motion in the Parliament. The topic of her motion was Singapore’s National Research and Development Strategic Thrusts. She was a Resource Panel Member of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, Resource Panel for advising Women’s Workgroups on Women and Leadership, Work, Life Skills and Socio-Community Development, and a member of the Assistive Technology Workgroup, Singapore Society for Physically Disabled.

In 2006, S.K. Ong was elected to join a new generation of leaders representing a broad range of disciplines and 23 countries from across the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S. for the Asia Society’s First Annual Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit – Shaping an Asia-Pacific Century: Challenges and Choices, 17-19 November 2007, Shilla Hotel in Seoul, Korea. Assembled by invitation, this delegation of dynamic young leaders under 40 examined the role of values-based leadership and develop innovative, shared approaches to address global challenges and the region’s most pressing issues. S.K. Ong has been elected to join elite leaders under the age of 40 from 30 countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region at the Asia Society’s Second Annual Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit - Moving Forward Together: Inclusive and Sustainable Growth in the Asia Pacific, 5-7 October 2007, Shangri-la Hotel Singapore.

Honours and Awards

National University of Singapore Postgraduate Scholarship, 1992
Teaching Commendation Award for Excellence in Teaching, NUS, 1999/2000
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellowship, 2000
Best Paper Award, September 2002: A Distributed Feature-based Environment for Collaborative Design, W.D. Li, Y.Q. Lu, H. Zhou, S.K. Ong, A.Y.C. Nee, J.Y.H. Fuh and Y.S. Wong, 2002, Proceedings of the 6th World Multiconference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, SCI2002, 14-18 July 2002, Orlando, USA, 69 - 74.
IJPR Norman Dudley Award, September 2003: Hybrid Genetic Algorithm and Simulated Annealing Approach for the Optimisation of Process Plans for Prismatic Parts, W.D. Li, S.K. Ong, A.Y.C. Nee, 2002, International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 40, No. 8, 1899 -- 1922. 1st team in the Asia-Pacific region to have received this award. (Certificate)
2004 M. Eugene Merchant SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, November 2003. 1st ASEAN female to have received this award since the award was 1st established. (more information; a few photographs of the ceremony; citation read by Professor Marvin DeVries; Singapore LianHeZaoBao newsclip on 25th December 2003; newsclip on Global Network for Chinese Professionals, www.networkchinese.com)
2004 Singapore Youth Award, Science & Technology Category, Singapore National Youth Council. 1st female faculty in the Faculty of Engineering at NUS to have received this award. (more information; a few photographs of the ceremony; citation)
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellowship, 2004
IES Publication Awards (Student Category), December 2004, C.C. Ng, S.K. Ong and A.Y.C. Nee, Development and Performance Verification of a Stewart Platform, IES Journal, The Institution of Engineers, Singapore.
10th Natural Science Outstanding Paper Award, December 2004, An Internet-Enabled Image- and Model-Based Virtual Machining System, Y.B. Luo, S.K. Ong, D.F. Chen and A.Y.C. Nee, 2002, International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 40, No. 10, 2269 -- 2288. This paper won the top honour (best 5 out of 7000) after a complex and rigorous process of review and defence in the Hubei Province Excellent Paper Competition. (Certificate)
Samsung DigitAll HOPE Award, November 2005, A team led by Associate Professor Ong Soh Khim and Professor Andrew Nee has won the Samsung DigitAll Hope 2005 for their project Augmented Reality Assistive Keyboard. They share the prize, a grant of US$500,000 with 11 others from Southeast Asia and Australia. The team has invented a device which marries Assistive and Augmented Reality technologies, to help the elderly and disabled use full computer functions in composing and sending emails, control household appliances, such as television sets and lights. (newsclips)
The Outstanding Young Person of Singapore Award 2006 (Science and Technology Category), Junior Chamber of Commerce, Singapore. The award was presented by MCYS Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan on 29^th March 2006. (newsclip)

Research Interests

Virtual and Augmented Reality Applications in Manufacturing
Augmented Reality Applications in Assistive Technology
Life Cycle Engineering/Assessment
Distributed and Collaborative Manufacturing
Development of Computer-Based Teaching Tools

Research Projects

AR in Manufacturing and Assistive Technology Research, Application of Augmented Reality in Manufacturing and Assistive Technology
VMS, Development of a Virtual Manufacturing System
DCDM, Distributed and Collaborative Design and Manufacturing
Stewart Platforms Development, Development of a Modular Stewart Platforms

Editorships

World Scientific Book Series on "Manufacturing Systems and Technology" - Assistant Editor (more information)
Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, International Institute of Informatics and Systemics (more information)
Honorary Editor of International Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, Pentagram Research Publications (more information)
Member of the Executive Scientific Board of the International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing, Springer (more information)
She has served as an invited reviewer of technical papers for 22 international journals and 27 international conferences.

Recent Publications

Member of International Technical Committees of major conferences for the last few years

Secretary of Conference Organizing Committee, The 8th International Manufacturing Conference, IMCC'98, May 1998, Singapore

Member of International Scientific Committee, The 3rd EC-PPM2000 (European Conference on Product and Process Modelling for Building and Construction and related industries) conference, September 2000, Lisbon, Portugal

International Co-Chair, 9th ISPE International Conference on Concurrent Engineering: Research and Applications (CE2002), July 2002, Cranfield University, United Kingdom.

International Co-Chair, 10th ISPE International Conference on Concurrent Engineering: Research and Applications (CE2003), July 2003, Portugal.

Member of Program Committee, International Conference on Socio Political Informatics and Cybernetics (SPIC'03), August 2003, Florida, USA.

Member of Advisory Committee, 11th International Conference on Concurrent Engineering: Research and Applications CE2004, 26-30 July 2004, Beijing, China.

Member of Program Committee, International Conference on Politics and Information Systems: Technologies and Applications (PISTA04), July 21-25 2004, Florida, USA.

Member of International Advisory Panel, 15th International Conference on Engineering Design, ICED'05, August 15-18, 2005, Melbourne, Australia.

Member of International Programme Committee, CE2005: The 12th ISPE International Conference on Concurrent Engineering: Research and Applications Next Generation Concurrent Engineering CE3: Smart and Concurrent Integration of Product Data, Services, and Control Strategies, 25-29 July 2005, Ft. Worth/Dallas, USA.

Member of International Program Committee, International Symposium on Social and Organizational Informatics and Cybernetics SOIC 2005, Orlando, USA, July 14 - 17 2005.

Member of International Program Committee, 3rd International Conference on Politics and Information Systems: Technologies and Applications, PISTA 2005, July 14-17, 2005 - Orlando, Florida, USA.

Member of International Program Committee, CE2006: The 13th ISPE International Conference on Concurrent Engineering: Research and Applications, Leading the Web in Concurrent Engineering, 17-22 September 2006, French Riviera, France.

Member of International Program Committee, 2nd International Symposium on Social and Organizational Informatics and Cybernetics SOIC, 2006, Orlando, USA, July 20 - 23 2006.

Member of International Program Committee, 4th International Conference on Politics and Information Systems: Technologies and Applications, PISTA 2006, July 20 - 23, 2006 - Orlando, Florida, USA.

Member of International Scientific Committee, VC2006: Virtual Concept, International Conference on Interactive Design and Manufacturing Methodologies, Tools and Processes, 26 November – 1 December 2006, Cancun, Mexico.

Member of International Program Committee, 2nd International Symposium on Social and Organizational Informatics and Cybernetics, SOIC 2007, USA.

Member of International Program Committee, 4th International Conference on Politics and Information Systems: Technologies and Applications, PISTA 2007, USA.

Member of International Program Committee, CE2007: The 14th ISPE International Conference on Concurrent Engineering, 16-20 July 2007, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Member of International Advisory Committee, ICSCI2008, International Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, 2-5 Jan 2008, Hyderabad, India.

Member of International Program Committee, PDR2008, International Conference on Advances in Product Development and Reliability, 4-6 August 2008, Chengdu, China.

Member of International Program Committee, 3nd International Symposium on Social and Organizational Informatics and Cybernetics, SOIC 2008, USA.

Member of International Program Committee, 5th International Conference on Politics and Information Systems: Technologies and Applications, PISTA 2008, USA.

Member of International Program Committee, First International Multi-Conference on Engineering and Technological Innovation, IMETI 2008, June 29^th - July 2^nd, 2008, Orlando, Florida, USA

Modules Offered

ME5606, Intelligent Systems in Manufacturing
ME5609, Rapid Response Manufacturing
ME3263, Design for Manufacturing and Assembly
ME5611, Sustainable Product Design & Manufacturing

Theses & Projects Supervision

Parliamentary Works

Parliamentary Speeches and Questions

During her term as an NMP from 2nd January 2005 to 19th April 2006, she participated actively in the parliament debates on the President’s Address, the Annual Budget Debates in 2005 and 2006, development of the Integrated Resorts, National Kidney Foundation, and the Committees of Supply debates. She raised issues on and spoke on the Education System in Singapore, Singapore’s R&D landscape, assistance schemes to help men in need, as well as the schemes to help the low wage workers. She raised a total of 87 questions and issues, spoken on 6 Bills, and made 19 speeches, of which 6 speeches were made in Mandarin, during her term and had made good contribution to the debate on policy issues at the national level. The 6 Bills that she spoke on were (1) National Research Fund Bill, (2) Casino Control Bill, (3) National University of Singapore (Corporatisation) Bill, (4) Public Transport Council (Amendment) Bill, (5) Professional Engineers (Amendment) Bill, and (6) Town Councils (Amendment) Bill. She was the only NMP in the last batch of 9 NMPs to have raised an adjournment motion in the Parliament. The topic of her motion was Singapore’s National Research and Development Strategic Thrusts.

Opinions